Base Metals News

By: Reuters
The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday applauded Zambia's efforts to resolve tax issues in its copper mining industry but warned that only further tightening of fiscal and monetary polices would contain the country's large deficits. President Edgar Lungu directed Zambia's finance and mining... →

By: Reuters
Teck Resources and Antofagasta denied on Monday that they were in talks about a merger after Bloomberg news reported that the two mining companies were in early stage talks.
Teck said in statement it was not in discussions with Antofagasta "in relation to any form of transaction." →

By: Henry Lazenby
Aluminium and lightweight metals producer Alcoa will curtail the remaining 74 000 metric tons of smelting capacity at its São Luís facility, in Brazil. NYSE-listed Alcoa on Monday said the curtailment was part of its plans to evaluate upstream capacity for possible curtailment, closure or sale as... →

By: Natalie Greve
Vancouver-based miner Nevsun Resources has successfully restarted the processing plant at its Bisha mine, in Eritrea, following repairs to the ball mill and the tailings thickener during a two-week shutdown. The processing plant had been offline since March 13, when a mechanical issue with the... →

By: Esmarie Swanepoel
Nickel miner Poseidon has taken full operational control of the Black Swan nickel project, in Western Australia, after completing the purchase agreement with major Norilsk Nickel.
Poseidon initially planned to use the 2.2-million-tonne Black Swan processing plant to treat the ore from its... →

By: Esmarie Swanepoel
Nickel developer Sirius Resources on Monday said that the development of its Nova project, in Western Australia, was running on schedule, with the company also announcing GR Engineering Services as the preferred tenderer for the processing plant.
The Nova nickel mine was expected to deliver... →

By: Esmarie Swanepoel
Copper/gold miner PanAust on Monday announced that it had received an unsolicited takeover offer from shareholder Guangdong Rising Asset Management (Gram), which was offering a cash price of A$1.71 for each share it did not already own.
Gram currently has a 22.5% interest in PanAust. →

By: Reuters
Southern Copper "will continue making efforts to move forward" with its Tia Maria project in Peru, the CEO of the mining firm told Reuters, just hours after a company spokesperson said the project was being shelved.
"Our position is that effectively the statements that were made do not totally... →

By: Reuters
Barrick Gold, the world's biggest gold producer by output, will continue operating its Lumwana copper mine, in Zambia, while awaiting changes to the country's mineral royalty tax, the company said on Friday.
Barrick had said it would suspend operations after Zambia hiked mineral royalties for... →

By: Reuters
Chile's state-run Codelco produced 1.67-million tonnes of copper in full-year 2014, a 3.1% rise from a year earlier, the world's No 1 copper producer said on Friday.
The company said the jump in output was mostly due to Codelco's newest mine, Ministro Hales, which produced 141 200 t copper in... →

By: Esmarie Swanepoel
Junior copper miner Metallum said on Friday that the company would benefit from new measures introduced by the Chilean government to support small miners.
The Chilean government has announced that it would provide price support to small miners delivering ore to the Enami processing facilities,... →

By: Keith Campbell
Major copper miner Antofagasta, listed on the London Stock Exchange and based in Chile, has revealed preliminary results for last year that are down on the results for 2013, but which the company regards as respectable, given the decline in market conditions. The 2014 preliminary results... →

By: Reuters
Chile's Codelco, the world's No 1 copper producer, said on Thursday it is gradually reopening mines in the north of the country that were closed on Wednesday due to heavy rains, but that its Salvador mine remained shuttered.
Conditions at Salvador did not yet permit safe operation, and 17... →

By: Martin Creamer
The target date is the end of this year for the decision to go ahead with the commercial implementation of a paradigm shift technology that will mine and refine platinum in an integrated on-site process and use only a tenth of the electricity normally consumed. Major detail design work has... →

By: Reuters
Zambian President Edgar Lungu on Wednesday directed the finance and mining ministers to change royalties on mining firms by April 8, saying the copper-producer could consider temporarily reverting to the tax regime in 2014. The decision to increase royalties in January for open pit mines to 20%... →

By: Reuters
Torrential downpours in the north of Chile, the world's biggest copper producer, have forced companies to suspend operations at several of the area's major mines, putting an estimated 1.5-million tonnes of capacity of the red metal on hold.
The country, which produces a third of the world's... →

By: Henry Lazenby
British Columbia-focused explorer Seabridge Gold has completed the first resource estimate for the Iron Cap Lower Zone at its 100%-owned KSM project, in north-western British Columbia. The Iron Cap Lower Zone was, after Deep Kerr, the second core zone identified at the massive project, which was... →

By: Henry Lazenby
Canadian marine mining project developer Nautilus Minerals on Tuesday said a British engineering firm had successfully completed factory acceptance testing of the umbilical winches for three seafloor production tools (SPTs). UK-based Soil Machine Dynamics designed and built the umbilical winches,... →

By: Henry Lazenby
TSX-listed Sherritt International Corp has named ArcelorMittal Mining Canada president and CEO Steve Wood as its new COO effective from April 27. Wood would oversee all Sherritt's operations in Canada, Cuba and Madagascar, including the environmental, health and safety, sustainability,... →

By: Martin Creamer
South Africa should seize the current timely opportunity to amend its mining taxation in a manner that encourages foreign investment, stimulates prospecting, gets mining companies to start dealing with marginal mines and gives enough back to the fiscus for the benefit of this country's people,... →

By: Esmarie Swanepoel
ASX-listed IMX Resources has agreed to revise the terms of a proposed joint venture (JV) with Mauritius-based Fig Tree Resources Fund II, following the completion of a due diligence on the Ntaka Hill nickel project, in Tanzania.
The revised transaction structure would incorporate an increase in... →

By: Reuters
Diversified Canadian miner Sherritt International said on Monday a strike by employees at its Ambatovy nickel mine in Madagascar had forced the company to curb output there. The company said the strike had started a week ago and was continuing despite efforts to reach a resolution. The mine is... →

By: Henry Lazenby
Project developer Seabridge Gold has expanded by 52% the resources for the Deep Kerr deposit, which forms part of the massive KSM project, in north-western British Columbia. The TSX- and NYSE-listed explorer pointed out that an updated independent mineral resource estimate for Deep Kerr now... →

By: Henry Lazenby
Northern Ontario’s emerging minerals-rich Ring of Fire (RoF) mining camp has a new champion after US-focused iron-ore producer Cliffs Natural Resources agreed to bow out of the prospective region by selling its claims to explorer Noront Resources for $20-million.
Noront, which was currently in... →

By: Henry Lazenby
Pending independent verification, multinational miner Sherritt International has achieved a significant production milestone at its Ambatovy nickel project, in Madagascar, after securing the sixth – and one of the most critical – of ten certificates under the terms of the project’s financing... →

By: Megan van Wyngaardt
TSX-listed miner Ivanhoe Mines has entered into a $82-million deal with Chinese Zijin Mining Group to boost the miner’s working capital and available funds for general corporate purposes, including the advancement of the company’s projects in Africa. Under the terms of the deal, the Chinese... →